Before we say goodbye
by Golden Seeker 91
Summary: Last words before the golden trio head off to look for horcruxes


Fred Hermione Head cannon

_Hermione ran out of the wedding tent and towards the burrow breathing hard. It was too much to bear. Being in the same room as Fred and Ron was like being suspended in a block of ice over a pool of fire. _

_She had started liking Fred in the 3__rd__ year. He had come to her and asked for help with his OWL's. This was when she began to see behind the prankster and the popular kid and see the kid who wanted to get good grades and get a good job to help his family out of poverty. _

_She had tutored him when she could, finding time around her own full schedule, he never asked her to tutor him if she looked tired or run down, but she always found time for him, he was nice to her, he always managed to cheer her up, he even defended Crookshanks for her when Ron thought he had eaten Scabbers, but that was as far as it went she thought. _

_He was always nice to her, but he never displayed evidence of more complex feelings than simple friendship. And so she tried to push away her budding feelings towards him knowing that nothing would ever come of it. He was funny, popular, good looking. He could choose whatever girl he wanted and she didn't need to be clever to know that didn't involve her. So she kept it all a secret, though looking at him hurt. To think she could share the common room or the kitchen at the burrow, and see him but not touch him hurt. _

_And now to make things worse she could see the way Ron looked at her. It was the same way she looked at Fred. Eyes filled with the longing to touch him, to tuck a lock of hair behind his ear, to be the one to hold his hand. She hated to think that Ron might like her in that way. He was her best friend. Someone who had been there for her thought all the years at Hogwarts. Steady as a rock, but still, just her friend. He always felt overshadowed by his brothers and she couldn't bear how much it would hurt him to find out she liked his brother over him._

_She stood now, at the kitchen sink, shaking slightly, willing her breathing to return to normal._

"_Hermione?" Said a soft voice issuing from the entrance of the burrow. _

_She froze. It was Fred, she would recognise his voice anywhere. She turned to face the door. Pulse increasing despite her protestations that she did not, could not, like him in this way. There he was, standing in the doorway, half in shadow cast by the moonlight. Her heart did a quickstep when she saw him. He was in dress robes. His brown eyes danced mischievously as they always did. _

"_Are you okay?" He asked her concernedly. She nodded, afraid that her voice would shake if she spoke aloud. _

"_I saw you run in here, you looked like you were ill. Are you sure your okay, you look all flushed."_

_Hermione cleared her throat. "Yeah." She half whispered. "Yeah I'm fine." _

_Fred shrugged and turned to leave. Hermione relaxed. Then Fred stopped in his tracks and spun on his heal. He stepped into the burrow's small kitchen pulling the door closed with a slight creek. _

_Hermione felt her breath catch. Her heart jack hammered against her chest._

"_Look Hermione" Fred began, "I know that you Harry and Ron are going off tomorrow. I know it's important and I know that without you we don't have a chance to beating you know who. I know you have to go, which is why I am telling you this now, if it doesn't work out, if I don't see you again, if you know who wins, please know that I love you, that I would die at the hands of you know who himself to protect you, that nothing else in the world matters apart from your being safe. Just promise me this, okay. Please."_

_Hermione stared, open mouthed at Fred, he had dropped his gaze, unwilling to meet her eyes. _

"_You, You like me?" She stammered. _

_He looked up then and closed the distance between them in the small kitchen in two strides. His hands, they were trembling she realised, reached out and hooked under her chin, tiling her head so she looked at Fred directly in the eyes. And his eyes weren't dancing anymore. They were as steady as rock, holding in them all the emotion Fred was feeling. The longing and love he felt for her. Despair and fear that she did not feel the same. _

_Fred looked into Hermione's brown eyes, and saw his own emotions staring back at him. Despair, fear, longing and love. He saw tears forming at the corners of her eyes, spilling over and falling silently down her cheeks. His hands itched to brush them away, but he was afraid to move. _

_Hermione spoke then. So softly it was almost a breath._

"_Before I go, and if I never see you again, know also that I love you. Know that I will do everything I can to stop you know who, know that every minute I am gone I will be thinking, fighting, searching, for you, for us." _

_Fred moved then. He brushed the tears from Hermione's cheeks. Brushed her hair back from her face and pulled her close to him hugging her tightly. Hermione returned the embrace, pouring all the love and longing she had held inside for 4 years into it. _

_She broke away. She raised her hand to his face. Stroked his cheek, tucked a lock of hair behind his ear, brushed the hair from his eyes, then finally the moment came to do what she had dreamed of doing for 4 years. She raised herself on her tip-toes and carefully, almost timidly touched her lips to his. _


End file.
